Political commentary from the LA Times

On Day 99, GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger glows over Obama

From the Keyhole State of Pennsylvania (yes, we know it's really Keystone, but we like to goad them) to the Golden State of California, it was good news for President Barack Obama Tuesday.

With Republican Sen. Arlen Specter changing his political party spots, as The Ticket chronicled here earlier. And with California's officially Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger saying very nice bicoastal bipartisan things things about the Democratic president at a Sacramento news conference, where The Times' Evan Halper caught this exchange:

Reporter: As you know, tomorrow is Obama's 100th day in office. Would you please assess his first 100 days and how the impact has been on California with him in the presidency?

Well, I think and I always say, that we, our administration, will do everything that we can to make President Obama a very, very successful president.

Because if President Obama is successful then we in the United States are successful and our economy will come back and we will overcome all of our obstacles, if it is the obstacles when it comes to home foreclosures or the financial crisis, unemployment and all of those kind of issues. So we all have to work together.

I think he has done an extraordinary job in reaching out. He has had a tremendous amount of contact with our administration, has included us in health care reform, has included us in infrastructure and in the Economic Stimulus Package. So we have had great relationships with them and we are working very closely together. I think he has done an extraordinary job.

I think he is a great communicator. I think he represented us well overseas, I was proud of him when he was overseas and how everyone kind of danced around him, even though he was new. He was, again, the center of the action, even though the other countries pointed their fingers at us and made us believe that it's our fault that the economic crisis worldwide is happening.

But you know, when we went up, they all participated and bought our bills and participating in investing in America. And then when it goes down, of course, there's always a lot of finger pointing, which was unfair. But nevertheless, America was the center. I think that President Obama created great action.

And so I think we have to continue supporting him as much as possible, to make him successful and therefore to make our state successful. Because we are not isolated, California; we are part of the United States. And half of the action comes from our state, within our state, through the legislature and through the executive office in the state.

But the other half comes clearly from Washington, if it's health care reform, if it's infrastructure, if it's education, all of those things, fixing our unemployment crisis, we have to work together. So I will give him a great mark for the great work that he has done the first 100 days. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause)